November 11, 2001	Sunday	Shaba’an 24, 1422

WASHINGTON, Nov 10: Former US President Bill Clinton has given up his privilege to argue cases before the US Supreme Court, in the latest fallout from his affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

On October 1, the high court suspended Clinton’s right to make arguments there, and gave him until Friday to submit his reasons for why he should not be permanently banned from making arguments there.

Instead, Clinton’s lawyer David Kendall informed the court clerk by letter Friday that his client was resigning from the Supreme Court bar.

The right to make arguments before the US high court is limited to a select coterie of attorneys from across the United States who gain admission to the Supreme Court bar.

High court rules provide however that any member of its bar who has been suspended from practice “in any court of record, or has engaged in conduct unbecoming a member of the bar of this, the court will enter an order suspending that member from practice before this court.”

Clinton in January entered into an agreement with the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct, surrendering his law license there for five years and accepting a 25,000-dollar fine for making misleading statements about Lewinsky in a sexual misconduct suit brought by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones.

A day before leaving office in January, Clinton reached an agreement with federal prosecutors admitting that he “knowingly gave evasive and misleading answers,” while under oath when he denied having sexual relations with Lewinsky.

The US Supreme Court justices are expected to announce as early as Tuesday whether it accepts Clinton’s resignation, which would still leave open the possibility that he could reapply and be readmitted to the Supreme Court bar if he regains his law license in Arkansas.—AFP